One morning, way back in February, we took Keeley to Muttland Meadows to play in the snow with other dogs. He had a blast running with the big dogs. We stayed for about 45 minutes which is enough time to tire him out but not long enough to get too cold. I put him in the car and checked his paws for ice and then we drove home.
30 minutes later, Keeley jumped out of the car; glad to be home like normal. We were home for an hour and Keeley was acting perfectly normal being his lovable little "velcro-pup" self. Then his grandma and I decided to go see a movie. So I made a kong for him and told him to go "housey-housey". He did so willingly. I put up his presure gate and told him to get some rest while we were gone.
We came right home after the movie so we were only gone for about 2 and 1/2 hours. I said "Puppers, we're home!" and I opened his gate. Keeley came out into the kitchen hopping on 3 legs. He wasn't using his left hind leg at all and was holding it up high.
I called the emergency vet for advice and I told them "I think it's his foot". They talked about frostbite or a cracked toe nail but I told them that it didn't seem like either of those things. They said he might have just strained it and should just rest a while and it'll be better. So I let him rest.
The next morning he didn't seem any better at all. I couldn't stand to see him in pain anymore so I asked his grandpa to drive us way out to the emergency vet. I told them, "I think it's his foot" but they said they didn't think so and that they wanted to take some x-rays of his legs. I agreed because I figured they knew what they were doing.
5 hours, 8 x-rays, and $560 later, they gave him back to me all drugged up. They said that they couldn't find anything wrong with him and that they think it must be a soft tissue injury in his leg. They said he just needs to rest and will be better in a couple of weeks.
A couple of weeks passed and he was still hopping on 3 legs. I called them up and they said wait another 2 weeks. Another 2 weeks passed and he was still not better. So we asked another vet and they said that a soft tissue injury sounds right and that he should just rest another 2 weeks. 2 more weeks later and he still wasn't much better. Keeley's trainer, PK, said that we'd better do something about his leg soon so that it doesn't develop into a chronic condition.
We decided that we needed a holistic vet. That's when we found Dr. Lisa at Animal Doctor. She examined Keeley and then reviewed the original x-rays from the emergency vet. I told her "I think it's his foot". She thought I was right and said, "You know, they didn't take a single x-ray of his foot?" I said she could take an x-ray of it now which she did. She didn't even need to knock Keeley out to do it. She said they wouldn't do something like that unless it was absolutley necessary. I asked "How did you get him to be still?" She said that they just wait until he's comfortable and relaxed. She was even able to determine exactly which toe was injured.
Since 6 weeks had already passed there wasn't much that could be done since the toe was already beginning to heal. (And as I understand it, there's not much you can do about a toe fracture anyhow). Dr. Lisa prescribed some metacam for Keeley and said that we needed to get serious about limiting his activity so that he can continue to heal. We also started Keeley on fish oil and glyco-flex.
Right about this time, Keeley had just celebrated his first Birthday. Have you ever tried to limit the physical activity of a one year old puppy? Let me tell you, it's next to impossible. Every time that we thought that he was finally getting better, he'd overdo it and start hopping again. That's how it's been for the last 8 months - two steps forward and one step back.
As a result of all this, I've become a little protective of Keeley's feet. I'm constantly warning everyone to be careful not to step on his feet and telling the neighborhood kids to be more gentle with his hind legs. Plus I won't allow Keeley to do the A-frame in agility for fear of him re-injuring that toe or another toe. I'm very glad that he's finally healed but I'd hate to have to go through all this again.
Last year we had to put an x-pen around the X-mas tree because as a young pup, Keeley could not be trusted. This year we decided that he's grown up so much that we could try it without the x-pen. On Tuesday night, I put up the tree with the lights and he left it well enough alone. Then on Wednesday night, I put the ornaments on the tree. I put all the non-breakables on the bottom branches and more fragile ones closer to the top. Keeley came over and checked out a few of the ornaments by the bottom and we kept on reminding him to "Leave it!" whenever it looked like he was going to bite one and he did really good with that. However, today when his grandma's back was turned, he seized the opportunity to get an ornament. A plastic Batman had to be retired because Keeley ate one of his legs before he was discovered. 
Also today, Keeley got groomed in preparation for the holidays. He won't need to be trimmed again until around his birthday in March. I prefer his scruffy look, but this clean cut look is okay because you can see his gorgeous eyes really well. Here's a couple of pictures.
